Highschool Sandbox
by arashi wolf princess
Summary: Gaara had always been able to control the sand that called to him. What happens when Gaara gets caught in the act at his new high school? NejiGaara
1. Chapter 1

***~*~*~*Author's Corner*~*~*~***

**Arashi: This is the second story that I adopted with permission from BoomBoom31. I hope you enjoy this story. Disclaimers-I don't own Naruto. I just wish I did.**

***~*~*~*Author's Corner*~*~*~***

Summary-Gaara had always been able to control the sand that called to him. What happens when Gaara gets caught in the act at his new high school?

NejiGaara

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Gaara glanced at his glowing clock.

7:00.

Perfect. The red-head stood up and tried to find some clean clothes in his armoire. His room was not exactly natural. Instead of a bed, he had a couch- Gaara didn't do the whole 'sleeping' thing. Instead of a desk, he had a black bean-bag chair that was filled with sand. And instead of a closet, he had an armoire.

Finding a black long-sleeve shirt with mesh cuffs and collar along with black pants, Gaara got dressed. After getting decent, he attempted to find his backpack that had a raccoon keychain on the zipper (which was full of Tupperware that contained oatmeal cookies because they were freaking delicious) and small gourd. His gourd was about the length of a forearm and about a hand width wide. It had a white strap attached to it that Gaara slung low on his hips. The gourd contained sand. Ever since he was little he could ask the sand to do things. When his siblings found out about his abilities, they freaked out. Imagine, a five-year-old sitting in a sand box, wiggling his fingers softly at a small dancing sand figurine, saying that the sand was his friend. Temari nearly had an aneurism. His siblings made him promise not to tell anyone about his abilities. Gaara, however, still played with the sand when he was bored. Sometimes you could see him in class, creating little, hand-height, sand ballerinas that danced upon his desk.

Trumping down the narrow staircase of his house, he saw his brother face down in a bowl, sleeping, holding a knife. On closer inspection, the bowl was full of orange juice and raw oats for oatmeal. Giving his brother his oh-so-famous blank stare, Gaara walked into the kitchen and grabbed an energy drink from the rows and row that they had in refrigerator. Give them a break, it was three teenagers and two twenty-year-olds living in a house with absolutely no parental supervision, what do you _think_ they'll eat? Nutritious meals full of vitamins and minerals? Pft. Yeah. Sure. Cracking open his energy drink, Gaara sat at the table, sipping his drink, staring at his unconscious older brother. His brother was in his violent red boxers and a backwards, inside-out black tee-shirt. Including his face-down-in-bowl-of-orange-juice-and-oats posture and the fact that he was holding a knife, he was an amusing picture.

He heard a series of loud thuds and bangs upstairs. Ahh. His sister was awake. His sister was a loud-mouthed blonde that stated her opinion- whether it was offensive or unwanted was not a problem in her eyes. She was the eldest of the siblings, therefore the bossiest. She had also taken to making sure that her two younger brothers wouldn't get in trouble, because she knew their cousin and his boyfriend sure as hell wouldn't. Their cousin, Sasori, took after Gaara in looks. He was short with red hair and green eyes. He was missing the large insomnia-induced black circles around the eyes though. He was always insulting all of them and toying with their lives. He was kind of depressing, but still annoying. He liked to make jokes. About people. It was hilarious when you _weren't_ the one getting picked on. His boyfriend, however, kept him in check, curbing him from saying or doing anything particularly nasty. This saint's name was Deidara. He was a peppy little blonde with a dark sense of humor and wicked wit. He kept his hair constantly in a pony tail and had his left eye covered all the time. The two of them were in a university level of schooling, both working part time jobs to house everyone. In fact, everyone except Gaara had a part time job to keep the bills at bay. It wasn't that Gaara was lazy, or didn't want to help, it's just that every job that Gaara applied to turned him down.

Gaara's head turned towards the stairs as his blonde sister stomped down the stairs.

"Kankuro! Get your dolls out of my fuckin' way!" Kankuro, Gaara's brother, snorted into his 'cereal' and yelled back "They're not dolls! They're puppets!" and promptly fell back into his sad attempts at breakfast. It was a reflex. Ever since Kankuro got interested in puppets, he's gotten crap about his 'dolls' and how he was girly for playing with them. Though, some of his puppets were freaking scary. One puppet shot poison darts out of the finger tips, and it rattled in a spine tingling way when it was controlled. Those things were anything but dolls.

"Gaara? How do you make toast?" Temari said, looking into the refrigerator for toast.

Gaara gave her an expressionless stare before pointing to the bread-box, then to the toaster as if saying 'are you retarded?' Temari blinked and an embarrassed 'oh.' slipped from her lips. Today Temari was wearing a blue dress with a darker blue obi-like sash around her waist, a weird apron like appendage, a blue skirt and assorted fishnet touches. She had her own style that was frighteningly preppy and gothic at the same time, however her kick ass attitude gave her an athletic appearance and her opinions we that of a loner's. She didn't really hang out with a particular group, she just floated in between groups. His brother however, only hung out with the punks and drama kids because of his fascination with puppetry and his anti-regulation beliefs. Gaara, well… Gaara didn't hang out with anybody. Nobody really liked him all that much. Most of the time they would all just stay away from him; however there was still that one jerk every once and a while that would make the mistake of bothering him. That person got his ass kicked. And a few people that said hi to him out of fear… but those people don't count. However wherever he was, there was always this tall brunette guy.

Gaara's stalker was tall with white eyes and had a faint green tattoo of two horizontal hooks pointing to an X. His head was bandaged along with his right arm and leg. He was the star soccer player, Hyuuga Neji. Wherever Gaara was, Neji was in the back-round. Gaara hated his guts.

Gaara stared at his two siblings, picking at his energy drink's tab. An awkward silence ensued. Gaara was a fan of awkward moments. They were enjoyable to cause. After a while, Temari finished eating her toast. She glanced at Gaara before chucking her empty plate at Kankuro yelling 'Get up! We're leaving in 5 minutes!'. Kankuro lifted his head and asked where he was.

"You're in the kitchen sleeping in oats an orange juice. Now go get your ass ready. We're leaving in 5." Temari said, shouldering her backpack from the front hall and slipping on blue sandals. Gaara picked up his black backpack and slung it onto his back, placed on a pair of ratty, worn down converse, and began searching for his keys in a small bowl that was full of junk. Kankuro swore before running up the stairs. A few loud bangs later and a shout that was defiantly from an irritable, sleepy red head ("Shut the fuck up! Classes don't start till 10 for us!") Kankuro came running down the stairs in jeans and a sweatshirt rubbing his face with a towel. It seems like he had stuck his oat-caked face under the sink.

"Temari! Do we have time for you to put my face on?" Kankuro had an obsession with wearing Kabuki make-up regularly. Temari shook her head before dragging her brother out the door telling Gaara to be careful. You see, Temari and Kankuro took an old beat up car to school that didn't have a roof as the result of a prank, some guys welded the doors shut for kicks and it was painted three different colors depending on which part you were looking at. It was a two-seater and since it didn't have a roof, Temari had decided that they shouldn't try to cram more people than the car was built for. Gaara took a sleek, narrow, racing motorcycle to school because they didn't have enough money to buy another car. The sleek motorcycle was sand colored with black inlays, it was pre-owned so it had some custom work put into it. Gaara placed on his black all-around helmet and sped off in the direction of school.

Coming around the bend into the school parking lot, Gaara's eyes widened as he saw a tall boy with long, dark hair and white eyes in the middle of the road crouching to pick up papers that had fluttered from his grasp. The boy's eyes turned from the scattered papers and widened. Gaara swore. He swerved at cut the engine, sliding to a stop inches from the wide-eyed boy. Ripping off his helmet, Gaara gave the boy a hard stare.

"Do you _bathe_ in stupid? Next time a speeding vehicle is heading your way, jump out of the mother fucking street!" Gaara said in a rough voice. The boy's eyes narrowed into a glare. He resumed picking up his papers before standing up and looking Gaara straight in the eye. Gaara secretly swore as he saw that the guy was about a foot taller than him and none other than the resident soccer-star, Neji Hyuuga.

"Maybe you shouldn't be going 80 in a school parking lot!" The soccer-star snapped back at him, organizing his papers in his hands.

"Maybe you shouldn't sit in the street." Gaara replied in a monotone, dismounting his bike and rolling it into a parking space with ease.

"Do you have any _idea_ who you're talking to?" Neji Hyuuga said in a condescending tone. Gaara gave him an emotionless stare before answering.

"Yes. I do. I'm talking to a self-centered soccer-brat that can have anything he wants." At this Neji Hyuuga gasped at Gaara's lack of respect for him. Gaara just merely smirked a creepy little smirk before brushing past the stuck up soccer-star and into the school. Shoving everything into his locker except for his sand, Gaara made his way to homeroom. He didn't even give the teachers an illusion that he was going to actually work by bringing materials to class, he just went to his classes and played with his sand. The teachers never stopped him because they never noticed and he was making straight A+'s anyway. They just ignored him. Speaking of sand, he uncorked his mini-gourd and started quietly playing with the little grains of sand inside. He created a small ballerina and made it dance across his desk. Since he was in the back of the class, nobody could see him. Besides… the sand called to him if he didn't use it. It was hypnotic, an addiction if you will. He needed to play with his sand. He needed it.

However, today was not his lucky day, in fact… this was the day his perfect little illusion shattered. A substitute teacher was taking over for the class and she had _spotted_ him.

"You! What are you _doing_?" Gaara's head snapped up to see the teacher pointing at him, her eyes wide in fear, as the rest of the class turned to see what she was talking about. Gaara's eyes widened in fear. _Oh shit_. His ballerina stopped mid twirl and dropped into a pile of sand. But it was too late, the class had seen his small display of power.

This was _bad_. Now they would send him off to some laboratory in a foreign country to be experimented on. A thousand excuses flashed through his head to try and explain what had happened to make it seem like it wasn't him doing it.

"You! I a-asked you a question! What were you doing? How- How did you do that?!"

Gaara's eyes widened again, his mind coming up blank. With no answer, the teacher said the worst thing she could have possibly said.

"I should report this! You should be in a lab you monster! That's not natural! You need to be fixed!" She shouted, pointing at him. His eyes widened yet again before narrowing, zeroing in on the teacher. He swung his hand in a sweeping motion in front of him as he stood up. Sand flew out of the gourd, fixing itself against her mouth.

"No! Don't you fucking say a word!" Gaara yelled in his rough voice, scared out of his mind. The teacher stumbled backwards, pulling on the hardened sand in vain. The rest of the class was paralyzed with fear. He didn't want to be sent away! He wasn't doing anything wrong! He never hurt anybody on purpose! He didn't want to move again! They whole family had moved because of him last time… he had scared everyone so badly in Suna with his sand that they had to move. And after that, they had to move again because of Gaara's carelessness. He didn't want to cause his family any more grief. At this point, Gaara was shaking, backing away from the startled looks of his classmates. Suddenly, a particularly brave and stupid blond-haired, blue-eyed student picked up a stapler and chucked it at Gaara, who knocked it aside using the rest of the sand in his gourd with the wave of his other hand. He became even more disturbed. Flinging more sand at everyone, he pinned their hands down to desks or floors and some even to walls. He heard the blonde cry out in pain after a loud snap was heard. Gaara broke his hand.

"Stop it! I'm normal! I'm normal you hear! _Normal_! Forget what you saw! It never happened!" he yelled, sounding like he was trying to convince himself rather than the class. He held his head, shaking it back and forth, before sprinting out the door, sand following him.

"Gaara! Gaara! Are you okay? Shit! What happened?" A familiar blonde yelled, turning to face her brother as he ran by her. Suddenly a flurry of sand passed her and she understood what had happened.

"Gaara. It's okay! As long as you didn't hurt anyone you're fine! Its okay! You're normal! We can move if you like…" Temari tried to console him. He looked back and shook his head wildly.

"I messed up again. I… I broke someone's hand…Don't… don't worry though. We don't have to move again. Just… tell Kankuro. I'm going home." Temari gasped before giving her brother a sad smile and nodding. He gave her a parting blank stare as he continued to run out of the school and all the way home.

Slamming the door behind him, he ran headlong into his taller cousin. Rebounding off of his relative, he side stepped him and ran up to his room, slamming that door again. Sasori sighed. He turned around and trudged into the kitchen, pointing towards Gaara's room at his boyfriend, who understood and followed him.

"Gaara?" Sasori asked, knocking on the door. He looked at Deidara in worry at the lack of response before trying the door. It was locked.

"Is this Gaara alright, un?" Deidara asked a little louder than Sasori, running a hand through his hair, revealing a mechanical eye, before releasing his hair. Again receiving no response, Deidara sighed before kicking the door in. Sasori sweat dropped at Deidara's destruction of the door.

"I asked if you were alright, un! Answer me when I talk to you, uuuuun!" He whined walking in. He opened his eye and gasped. Inside Gaara was sitting on top of a large pile of sand which was currently grinding itself into his bleeding forehead. Sasori shouted out his surprise and ran up to Gaara, whacking away the sand from his forehead and covering the wound with his hand so the sand couldn't get to him. The sand began grinding into

Sasori's hand making him cringe.

"Dei-dei! Go get something to fix this! A first aid kit or some shit like that!" Sasori yelled waving his free hand at Deidara. He turned his head back to Gaara and shook him,

"Gaara! What the hell happened? Talk to me, damnit! Stop the sand! It's hurting me!" At the last statement Gaara's closed eyes opened and the sand dropped from the air.

"I'm sorry." Gaara stated softly. Sasori took one look at Gaara's face and pieced together what happened.

"Again?" Sasori asked harshly. Gaara's eyes squeezed shut before nodding, crawling backwards away from his livid cousin. "Gaara! We can't afford to move again! Stop doing it! We've moved four times because of you! We're already in debt and you keep making it worse! So stop this abnormal shit before I send you away!" Gaara let out a sob, curling in on himself, the sand cradling him. Addicting. It was addicting. The feel of sand on his skin. The sand whispering to him. Asking him to play. Addicting.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! It won't happen again! You don't have to change anything! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, daddy!" Sasori gasped at Gaara's slip of the tongue. He mentally kicked himself. Of course Gaara would say _that_. He had practically yelled at the kid for things he couldn't control. Sasori felt horrible. He had promised himself that he would be better than his uncle. His uncle, Gaara's dad, had verbally and physically abused Gaara for his abilities since they developed. Monster. Freak. Killer. Those were a few of Gaara's nicknames that his father bestowed upon him. Sasori could never forget the time he had slept over at their house when Gaara was about 7.

_**Flashback…**_

_Sasori sighed, laying down on his futon in Gaara's room. The small boy was pulling on his little red footy pajamas, tripping over himself in the process. When the small boy was done, he grabbed his stuffed bear sitting on the floor and crawled under the bed. A few minutes passed._

"_Gaara? Why are you sleeping under there?" Sasori questioned._

"_Daddy says monsters sleep under the bed."_

_**Flashback End…**_

Sasori snapped out of La-La Land.

"Ah shit. Uhm… comm'ere. There… there… uhm… I'm not mad? Uh… it's okay…" He said, motioning towards himself in an awkward way. Gaara looked up skeptically. Sasori made an impatient noise, causing Gaara to lean forward a little bit. Gaara timidly leaned forward into Sasori's chest. Sasori awkwardly placed his arms around Gaara, trying to console him. They were both awkward with this position, but the seriousness of the situation shattered when Deidara walked into the room.

"Aww! You guys look so freaking adorable, un! You look like you actually like each other, un!" Deidara cooed from the door, pointing at Gaara and Sasori from the door with one arm, clutching medical supplies with the other. Gaara blushed, pushing his face into his cousin's shoulder. Sasori gave Deidara a look that said 'was-that-really-necessary?' and motioned for him to get his ass over there. Deidara smiled as he walked over to the two. He dropped all of his supplies on the floor, and started to carefully bandage Gaara's bloody forehead. When Gaara's injury was tended to, Deidara moved onto Sasori's bloody hand. All through which Deidara was babbling away, talking about anything and everything, hardly stopping to breathe. It was comforting. It was better than silence.

"… and then that jerk face had the audacity to give me decaf! _Decaf_, un! So I stand up and-"

"Dei-dei?" Gaara's rough voice rang out, interrupting Deidara's monologue.

"Hn?"

"I'm fine now." Deidara's face broke out in a slow smile before nodding and brushing a lock of hair out of Gaara's face.

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**Arashi: I hope you guys will like this story. ^^ Please read and review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Arashi: Here is the next chapter of Highschool Sandbox. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far. ^^ **

**Disclaimers- Still don't have Naruto.**

Fingering the bandage around his head, Gaara gave a nervous sigh. He was standing outside the school, roughly 10:00 am. When Deidara had found out he was going to stay home for another day, he blew a gasket and dumped his ass here. He wanted to run home, but he didn't have a key, and their neighborhood wasn't exactly the best neighborhood on the planet. Meaning there was a whore and a drug dealer on every corner. It was awkward to be hit on by strange 62-year-old-botox-inflated-blonde-women when you were gay and 15. It was either disease-ridden woman or school.

Gaara opened the school door with a slight push. They were heavy, large gym doors that hung heavy on the hinges, making a creepy squeak. He walked down the deserted hallways, attempting to find the office. He had only been there once before and it was for fighting. In Gaara's defense, the guy brought it upon himself by picking on the creepy guy that sits in the corner. You don't mess with that kid. Common fucking sense. Gaara sighed, turning down a hallway that was unfamiliar to him. Littered down the hallway were kids smoking joints and making out, not Gaara's crowd- if he had one. Gaara sighed and made his eyes cold and empty, usually nobody was dumb enough to say anything to him when he had his look of death.

"Hey! Freak!" A voice echoed down the hallway. Idiot. Gaara turned slowly, making a disturbing effect. Pinning the unfortunate boy with a glare Gaara crossed his arms, awaiting an explanation from this asshole. The asshole in question took a long hit from his joint before flicking the little stub of burnt paper on the ground. He pushed his slumped self off of the wall and stepped on the still smoking addictive substance. Slouched stance, baggy jeans, and a dirty tee-shirt was what the guy was made of.

"Come with me."

"No." Gaara's instant reply was. He began to turn his back on the high teenager before he was grabbed about the shoulders and smashed into a locker.

"I didn't ask if you wanted to." He responded as if speaking to a little child. He took Gaara's arm and dragged him down a much cleaner hallway and then rammed him into a locker. Gaara was pissed. He glanced down at his gourd, still proudly strung around his hips, and narrowed his eyes at the unfortunate teen. Spotting Gaara's gourd strung on his hip, the druggies eyes widened and he took a step back.

"You still carrying that shit around? The whole school knows about you're freaky shit, man! That teacher still got that sand on her mouth, man! You won't get away with it, dude!" Gaara sighed. This guy was so high he probably didn't even know his own name.

He was just about to walk away from the floundering teen before he heard a ripping noise and a tug on his hip. The bastard had ripped his gourd off! Before he could protest, he was shoved into a locker and locked in.

"Sayonara, Sand-man!" He heard a fragmented voice call. Gaara's eyes narrowed. He tried feeling for the sand, no-use. It was out of range. Cursing loudly, Gaara hit the locker door from the inside. He started to shake. Gaara was scared of the dark and he was claustrophobic. Lockers trigger both fears. Gaara slid down, clutching his knees to him, going silent.

Neji sighed. He wondered where his pet had gone, he had been missing for two days. Not a literal pet, no. His cat was fine, but his _pet_ however, was missing. Ever since Neji had laid eyes on his pet he had been smitten. He had caught Neji's attention by accident at P.E. one day…

**FLASHBACK!**

"_You! Red-head! Get your skinny self over here and climb this rope without using your feet. Touch the top if you_ can_." The large P.E. teacher had said in a mocking tone. The boy was very small. He was the shortest in the class, and the skinniest in the class- including the girls. He had messy bright red hair that stuck out in different angles, his hair stood out even more because of his green eyes. His eyes were beautiful. They were rimmed with a thick line of black, making him seem even smaller somehow._

_The boy nodded and stood at the bottom of the rope. He sighed before grabbing the rope with delicate hands. People began to laugh at his delicateness with the rope, claiming he'd never be able to climb the rope. Suddenly, the boy shot up, climbing the rope faster than most of the football, tennis, and soccer teams had. Within seconds he was at the top, staring down at them all, his feet dangling below. He lifted a hand, letting his whole body be supported by one arm and touched the ceiling. He gave the teacher a blank stare before letting go of the rope. However, instead of falling, the red-head had alternated his hands in grasping the rope and turning around it in a very meticulous and calculating way- slowing his falling rate. He was holding the rope delicately as he pseudo-fell. Landing with a small thud, the red-head gave another blank stare to the teacher, before heading back to the stunned crowd._

"_Hey! Wait just a second! If I may ask… will you join our gymnastics team? Please buddy?" The teacher sputtered out, calling after the boy. The boy stiffened and stopped. He turned slowly around and pinned the teacher with a cold glare._

"_Don't talk to me as if you have always respected me. Your fake charade sickens me." His voice rang out in a raspy low tone that chilled the spines of the other students._

**END FLASHBACK!**

Neji sighed. His pet was so adorable. He always had this dazed and slightly post-sex aura about him. Neji even thought Gaara's sand was adorable. It was like his pet's pet. Neji could spend all day just watching his pet play with his sand. Whenever Gaara played with his sand he always wore a soft, sad, barely there smile. Neji knew how happy the sand made Gaara. It was all his pet had.

Neji also found it adorable that Gaara had always made small innocent things with his sand. Like ballerinas, small foxes, children playing, other such childish things; it made Neji happy that Gaara found such pleasure in those things. Neji also liked to protect Gaara. His pet didn't know it, but Neji had curbed many insults and physical attacks from jealous people. It made Neji happy that he could protect his pet. Too bad he couldn't protect Gaara from himself.

Whenever Neji saw his pet, he thought something, then would say the exact opposite, thus aggravating or hurting his pet. His pet hated him. And the worst part, Neji couldn't blame him. One time, the soccer team had ganged up on Gaara and beat him up. They were constantly on him, 7 or so against one. It was sick. All of them were aiming for the face. They beat his pet till his poor pet cried blood from the blows to his face. Gaara didn't cry out once. It was just sick. All Neji did was watch. He stood back and watched his "friends" beat his precious pet senseless. He didn't help Gaara or his teammates. That night, Neji could be found throwing up in his bathroom, so nauseated by his own actions, it made him psychically sick. He couldn't look at Gaara for days afterwards. In fact, Neji was slightly nauseous from just remembering, even though he paid his due to his pet for that incident.

**FLASHBACK!**

"_Hey. Uhh who do you wanna see?" Temari asked Neji, letting him in._

"_Gaara." Neji barely whispered. Temari nodded before screaming at Gaara to come down. Neji was in the living room with Gaara's older brother, Kankuro, and two older males, one blonde and one red-headed. Neji heard light footsteps walking down the stairs. About halfway down the stairs Gaara had stopped and looked at Neji._

"_Get out." Gaara said roughly, closing his eyes in rage._

"_Gaara… I…" But before Neji could apologize, Gaara's eyes had flared open. His eyes spelled terror. He walked slowly down the stair, animosity rolling off of him in waves. He stopped about two feet from Neji before pulling back his fist and punching Neji in the face as hard as he could. Neji flew backwards with a loud cracking noise. Blood blossomed from Neji's nose._

"_Gaara!" Temari yelled, shocked._

"_No… I deserved it…" Neji said weakly, standing up slowly, facing his pet, ready for the next blow. Gaara took advantage of the opportunity and tackled Neji, pounding him anywhere he could reach, blind with rage._

"_Where. Are. Your. Friends. Now. Bitch?" Gaara asked, punching Neji in between words. Neji let him. Not defending himself. Before Gaara could succeed in killing Neji, his older brother pulled him off of a bleeding and bruised Neji. Temari suddenly kneeled by Neji, asking if he was alright._

"_Of course I'm not okay. But… let him continue if he wishes. I deserve it." Neji stated, before attempting to stand up. He swayed on the spot, an eye swollen shut, blood everywhere, and numerous bruises. The two older males went over to help Neji stand. _

_Neji slowly looked up at Gaara before saying:_

"_I'm sorry…for everything. Accept my apology. Please forgive me."_

"_Don't ask for my forgiveness to ease your guilt." Gaara spat at Neji, trying to still get to him._

"_I could care less about myself. It's you I worry about." Neji replied, coughing up blood._

"_Then why didn't you stop them if you worry about me so much? You just stood there and fucking watched!" Gaara growled, anger flaring again. Neji was caught. He didn't know the answer to that question._

"_I… I don't know…" Gaara shook his brother off of him._

"_Just leave." He said pointing to the door. Neji looked up at his pet and nodded slowly, pushing off the two older males, walking out the door._

_Later that night, Neji got a phone call. He looked at his phone tiredly before answering._

"_Hello?"_

"_I accept." Gaara's voice rang out, before a dial tone was heard._

**END FLASHBACK!**

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**Arashi: Please read and review. ^^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Arashi: I hope you will enjoy this chapter. ^^ Still don't have Naruto *pouts***

* * *

Neji hated to remember that particular incident. However things weren't exactly 'friendly' per se between him and his pet now. Insults were exchanged regularly between them, and it usually ended with Gaara being humiliated in the end.

Neji fingered the strap attached to his drawstring backpack on his shoulder and sighed. He supposed that he should get moving to his last class of the day. Stopping by his locker he started to fiddle with the combination, still wondering where Gaara had gone.

"Hello?" a muffled voice sounded from within the locker. Neji nearly jumped out of his skin. There was somebody _inside_ his locker!

"Uhh… hold on!" Neji called out to this poor kid trapped in his locker, and started to open his locker again with slightly shaky hands. He opened the locker quickly, only to cause a shock of red hair fall to the floor with a startled noise. Neji flung out his arm to catch the small person, so his face wouldn't meet cold tiled floor. The boy was pulled flush against Neji's side.

"Thanks." The boy said shortly, before abruptly pulling away. The pale eyed boy's eyebrows short up comically at who exactly was in his locker.

"Gaa- Subaku!?" Neji stuttered out in shock. Who would dare lock his pet in a locker!?

"Hyuuga?" Gaara said in shock. Gaara's body suddenly stiffened and was on the alert, incase the Hyuuga brat decided to try anything. Not that he couldn't do anything without his sand, but still, he could run right?

Neji's first thought was to ask if his pet was okay… but… yet again, his mouth said the opposite.

"What were _you_ doing in my locker, brat?" His pet took a small step away from him, and Neji's mind was screaming at him to shut up, "You probably destroyed everything in there too! Why don't you have some courtesy for other people? Get out of my sight, you useless eyesore!" Neji mentally kicked himself. Why was it that he could never say anything nice to his pet!?

"It's not like I had a _choice_ Hyuuga." Gaara spat out, before turning to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Neji called after him mockingly.

"This 'useless eyesore', is 'getting out of your sight'. Besides, you aren't so pleasant to look at either." Gaara called back to Hyuuga, not even looking back.

Gaara sighed. He wondered how long he had been in there, and started his quest for a clock. Spotting one above a classroom door, he realized with a dropping sensation in the pit of his stomach that school was about to let out. He had been in there for six hours! Who the fuck doesn't visit their locker all damn day? Stretching out his cramping muscles, Gaara walked right out of the building, in search of the school outdoor track field.

Stepping up to the dirt ring, Gaara gathered about two handfuls of sand, and filled his pockets. He was going to get his gourd back, and he couldn't do it without some help from his precious sand. He had never thought of the sand as a weapon before, but now he was going to have to use it as a weapon (instead of the friend status it held before).

Stalking back into the still in session school, Gaara started to search out where his sand that was from his hometown was. He was very familiar with that sand, and he wanted it back, even if he had to fight for it. Using his mental map of the school, he easily found where the druggies hung out and spotted the same greasy skinned pot head that had stolen his sand. Gaara let his new sand slither up on the ground and slowly wrap it self around the unsuspecting victims ankles.

"What the-!?" The druggie asked suddenly, looking down at the small amount of sand slithering up to his neck.

"Give it back." A dark voice sounded through the hall.

"Huh?" The confused boy asked through his substance-induced haze, not comprehending the question.

"Give my sand back, or I'll break your neck." Gaara of course did not intend to kill the boy; however, he would get his sand back one way or another.

"Whoa! Chill man… you need to like… chill. I'll give you back your stupid sand!" Gaara smirked. So the guy had at least a sense of self preservation. Suddenly a guard was thrown down the hall, in the direction of where Gaara was standing.

"There take it!" Gaara gave a small laugh before the sand dropped from the doped up boy and Gaara had his familiar weight attached to his hip again. It looked like the addicted boy had been electrocuted, he looked so scared. Gaara just sneered, and walked away, intent on finding his sister now that the bell just rang.

Gaara turned the corner into a crowded hallway, almost immediately wishing he hadn't. As soon as he was seen, everyone began to stare. Gaara gulped. He may be able to defeat some clueless druggie, but he sure as hell couldn't fight his way through the entire school. Deafening whispers erupted as soon as Gaara started to step carefully down the hallway, determined not to make eye contact with anyone.

"_I heard he was a demon…_"

"…_insane, he isn't stable…_"

"…_his poor classmate had all the bones in his hand broken!_"

"_He's just a freak._"

Gaara broke out into a run. He had to get out of the school. He had _told_ Deidara that going to school right after the incident would be a bad idea. The shocked and accusing faces blended together as he ran down the hallway. He turned the corner sharply and hit something quite solid.

"Ow!" A rough voice called out as the fell to the floor. Gaara opened his eyes and looked at the person he had knocked over; it was the blonde kid that had thrown the stapler at him yesterday. Gaara's eyes widened.

"Sorry!" Gaara said before he could stop himself.

"You!?" The blonde one said in shock, cradling his hand that was in a cast. They stared at each other for a long time, before Gaara caved and looked away, down at the floor.

"I know it's a little late, but I… I didn't mean to break your hand…" The blonde boy looked at Gaara with suspicion in he eyes. However instead of getting the punch Gaara suspected, The kid stuck his non injured hand out and introduced itself.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm sorry for throwing the stapler at you." Gaara briefly wondered whether or not this Naruto kid had bipolar disease, before hastily grabbing the offered hand softly and returning the introduction.

"Uh… Subaku no Gaara. S-Sorry about your hand…" The bright boy just smiled at Gaara with a blinding smile.

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**Arashi: Gaara made his first friend! ^^ Awe how sweet of Naruto to do this. Please read and review. ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Arashi: There will be some "Domestic Violence" in here, very mild though. I thought I should give heads up on the warning. Disclaimer…still don't have Naruto at all**

Gaara was beginning to feel bad. Ever since Naruto had offered his had of friendship to the resident freak show, he had been harassed. Not as bad as 'the freak' himself, but still, Naruto had once been popular—one of the cool people, the person you try to be like… and Gaara had taken that away. He tried to console himself with the fact that it was Naruto's choice to hang around Gaara, but it wasn't enough to ease the guilt. He knew it was slightly ridiculous to feel guilty about having a friend, but still… he was guilty. He knew he needed a friend, but that doesn't technically mean he _deserved_ a friend. He wondered whether Naruto was just too nice to say 'I don't want to do this anymore', or if he genuinely was going to be Gaara's friend. It made Gaara nervous.

In addition to worrying about the fragility of his and Naruto's friendship, Gaara was constantly fighting. And we aren't talking about the: '"How could you!?" "I hate you!" "You aren't my best friend anymore!"' fighting. He got into the fights that it was difficult to walk away from on your two feet. He was fighting the kind that required him to lie on the ground bleeding for a few moments before he could crawl out of the open to recover even more. This had started about a week after he had started attending school again. The students had figured out if he was separated from his sand, he was powerless to do anything against their advances. Running wasn't a choice, there was always way too many of them.

It wasn't the pain he resented, it was the reason he was going through the pain he resented. It's not like the sand was hurting anyone. Gaara only controlled the sand just to feel alive; to make it seem like he could affect the world; to make it seem like he had a part somewhere in time. Maybe it wasn't an important role, maybe it was the equivalent of being the tree in a kindergarten play, but it was something. Gaara didn't mind. But… he wanted to know why being able to control sand was bad.

And in addition to these two equally distressing topics, Sasori and Deidara were fighting. It hadn't escalated to actual fist fighting, but they were very harsh on the matter. Gaara doubted they even remembered what they had been fighting about in the first place. However they were both very stubborn and not willing to yield to the other. This made things horrible at home. Gaara had no place to go. If he was at school he would get beaten, if he was at home he would always be put on the spot by Deidara or Sasori. St first he tried to slow his walks between school and home, but he was mistaken for a whore multiple times, and that just pissed Gaara off. Did he really look like some wonton slut that you could just pick up off the street?

"Dinner!" A familiar voice called up from the kitchen, startling him out of his pensive thoughts. It was Temari. Gaara briefly wondered if he should just not go down, but nixed the idea at the thought of an insulted Temari. Loping down the stairs he started to feel the tense air. Sasori and Deidara were sitting opposite each other, glaring at the table. Ah. So that's where it was coming from. Gaara wondered what chair he should sit at so he wouldn't set off an argument (next to Sasori or next to Deidara?). However, his savior of a sister placed down a bright red plate that Gaara had since he could remember down next to Deidara. Gaara took that as a hint and sat down next to a tense blonde.

Halfway through the meal Gaara started to feel even more uncomfortable. Usually the Sabaku kitchen table dining experience was filled with loud yells, insults, and smacking sounds; however, tonight there was an almost eerie silence.

Deidara suddenly slammed his hands down on the table, standing up, and yelled at Sasori to "Stop it!". When Sasori inquired on what he was doing, Deidara just got angrier.

"You know what your fucking doing!" at this Sasori lost his temper and slammed _his_ hands down on the table and began to yell at Deidara. Soon it was an all out screaming match, that Gaara had no idea what it was about. Gaara started to cover his ears at their noisey fight and only stopped when he had heard a definite '_crack_' and a dead silence.

Gaara looked up to see a very shocked, very hurt Deidara lightly touching a bright red handprint on his cheek. He looked over to see Sasori's expression. Sasori looked like he was going to be ill and was staring at his hand to Deidara's face.

"I… I… I don't know… I…" Sasori started to stumble out in an uneasy manner, looking greener by the second. Deidara just began to shake his head back and forth, trying to take a step away from the table, but only succeeded in tripping over his chair behind him and landing on the floor.

"Deidara! I'm… I'm sorry… I don't know… I…" Sasori attempted to run over to the fallen Deidara, but Kankuro stopped him. Temari glared at Sasori heavily and began to clear the table, sensing dinner was over.

"I'm going to bed." Deidara said monotonously from the floor, rising up almost robotically and walking from the room. Gaara sighed and followed his cousin's boyfriend. Deidara was a drama queen, so he might need some guidance on this one. Gaara softly knocked on the door to Deidara's and Sasori's room. At Deidara's soft "come in", Gaara did so and shut the door behind him. Deidara was sitting on the bed, crying.

"Hi." Gaara started awkwardly.

"Hey."

A long pause.

"You know he loves you right?" Gaara said softly.

"I… I know…" Deidara replied, curling his arms around his knees on his… no… _their_ bed.

"But that doesn't make it right." Gaara continued, sitting next to Deidara, tucking his legs underneath him. Deidara shifted. Gaara sighed. Deidara shifted again.

"It… it was my fault anyway… I started it."

"No!" Gaara yelled, causing Deidara to jump. "You didn't do anything wrong! Sasori is the one at fault here! Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control…" Deidara was silent. Gaara sighed for what seemed the twentieth time this evening.

"If you plan on forgiving him, at least make him deserve you forgiveness." Were Gaara's parting words. As Gaara closed the door behind him, he spotted Sasori walking down the hall.

"Hey. Fuckhead." Gaara started, stomping over to his ill looking cousin. Slamming the redhead into the wall, Gaara continued, "If you ever make Dei-dei cry again I will ._Fuck. You. Up._ I don't care if you're my fucking cousin. I _will_ hurt you. No go fucking beg for forgiveness." Gaara spat with a final shove into the wall.

Gaara then continued his walk to his room as if nothing had happened, dreading the morning to come; because when morning comes, school follows.

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**Arashi: Please read and review**


	5. Chapter 5

Arashi: I was working on a couple of chapters for this story. ^^ Hope you guys will enjoy the next chapter of this story. Last chapter from Boom then it will be my own version from here on out.

**Gaara ducked down behind a trashcan. **

**Fuck.**

**Why were people that knew him everywhere?**

**If he had been in a better mood, he would have been humming the James Bond theme. But that was not the case. He was in a shitty mood. Things had escalated last night to a degree that had made it impossible for the family to sleep. Sasori had apparently broken down in front of Deidara, spilling out multiple apologies and how he was wrong about whatever it was they were arguing about and how Deidara deserved not to get hit. Having a hysterical Sasori noisily apologizing for an hour straight did nothing to improve Gaara's already sour mood. It only got worse. Not only did Deidara forgive Sasori so easily, but they had very loud, very kinky sex right after their little heart-to-heart. Gaara wasn't sure what he was madder about, the loud sex, or Deidara giving into Sasori so easily. The guy had **_**hit**_** him for god's sake! Sure, Sasori was so sickened by his action that he threw up almost immediately after, but **_**still**_**.**

**He slowly peaked out from behind his hiding place. Looking around he noticed the group of people had ran past where he was stationed, he sighed. He really didn't want to go to school, but he knew he had to if he wanted to make it seem like life was normal for him to his family. He knew they would try and 'help' him, but that would only hinder them. He didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble for his family, they did enough for him as it was.**

**He continued.**

**Shooting out from behind the trashcan, he sprinted towards the school. Outside the school, people could hurt him badly. However when he was inside the school, they held a certain amount of caution. So as long as Gaara was out in the open with teachers in the general vicinity, people wouldn't try anything extreme. While the enclosed spaces were safe in the outside world, it was the opposite in school.**

**His gourd was banging softly against his leg as he ran towards the front gates of his school.**

**30 feet.**

**20 feet.**

**10 feet.**

**Almost there…**

"**Hey you!" Shit, somebody recognized him. He told himself to just keep running.**

**5 feet.**

**Pain. He raised his hand up to touch the back of his head, and when he looked at it there was some red liquid coating his fingers. They had thrown something, and whoever it was had good aim. Scrambling up to his feet, he made it into the school. He allowed himself a small reprieve before starting towards the building out in the open, where he was safe.**

**He pressed his hand against the bloody spot on the back of his head, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. He knew head wounds bled a lot, even if they weren't serious, so he wasn't particularly concerned. He caught sight of his very orange friend, who was talking to someone. This person was wearing a black leather jacket with fishnet, had two triangular red tattoos on his cheeks, he was also holding a leash to very large white dog. **

**Figuring this new figure was safe, he approached the two. **

"**Hello." Gaara said softly to Naruto.**

"**Oh hiyas Gaara! This is Kiba! He's new here!" Naruto said, waving his arms around enthusiastically.**

"**Why does he have a dog? Animals aren't allowed on campus." Gaara asked, looking at the monstrous furry thing.**

"**Its my seeing eye dog." The new kid replied, petting the head of his dog softly. Gaara narrowed his eyes and zeroed-in on Kiba's eyes. True enough, they were slightly misted over, causing the brown in his eyes to become distorted, his eyes reminded Gaara of smog on a cold day.**

"**Oh. Didn't notice." Gaara said shortly, turning to raise a non-existent eyebrow at Naruto. This kid made friends with the weirdest kids, didn't he?**

"**And look at this!" Naruto practically yelled, grabbing a book for Kiba's hand, "Its in **_**Braille**_**! He has all of our textbooks in **_**Braille**_**! How cool is that?" Naruto opened a book to reveal bumpy dots all over the page, in neat, nice rows.**

"**That's… nice?" Gaara said, closing the book and holding it out to Kiba, nudging his hand so he would take it. Kiba took the book with a small smile, stuffing it into his messenger bag, which had "Kiba" written on it in red graffiti graphics.**

"**So, your name's Gaara?" Kiba asked politely, reaching out to touch Gaara's face, "Hmm, you're kinda short… But you have nice facial features- pretty, even." Kiba said, simply running his hand over Gaara's face, trying to get a feel for what his new acquaintance looked like.**

"**Uhmm, thank you?" Gaara said, but it came out as more of a question. He wasn't particularly thrilled at being called 'pretty', but he supposed he should take it as a compliment.**

"**Ahhh, don't listen to him, he said I had 'childish features'." Naruto said, patting Gaara on the back roughly.**

"**Touch me again and I'll smack your 'childish features' so hard you'll be red for three days." Gaara said, taking Naruto's hand off of him.**

"**Why do you have to be such a destructive ass?" Was Naruto's oh-so-clever rebuttal. **

**Gaara just shrugged off-handedly.**

"**Hey! Sand freak!" Someone yelled from across the grounds. The sound of thumping feet started.**

"**Oh shit. Imma cut this meeting a little short! Bye!" Gaara said quickly, attempting to run in the other direction. However, this feat was impossible due to the fact that Kiba had grabbed his shirt collar.**

"**Let me talk to them." He said simply.**

"**You don't understand. They're going to fucking kill me."**

"**I doubt that…" Kiba said, strengthening his hold on Gaara's shirt collar. The group of people that had halted in front of Naruto, Gaara, Kiba, and the dog suddenly asked:**

"**Hey, let go of him. He's ours." The tallest one of the group spoke.**

"**I think not." Kiba said simply, staring at the general area where the voice came from.**

"**Why you-!" a boy yelled, throwing a punch at Kiba, who, miraculously, caught the hand.**

"**Hitting a blind boy? Have you no morals?" Kiba spoke up, tightening his grip on the boys fist, making him gasp. Kiba let a smirk bleed into his normally rambunctious face. **

**The group of four looked up at Kiba's eyes and found the evidence clear. The smoggy eyes made them all instantly feel guilty.**

"**Hey! Let go!" He yelled, wide-eyed, trying to yank his fist away.**

"**Should I let him go?" Kiba asked, turning to where he was still holding Gaara hostage.**

"**Ahh! Let him go! We don't want any trouble!" One of the fatter guys said, shaking his hands back and fourth.**

"**By the rate Gaara's heart is beating, I'd say you have terrorized him before… I think I'll let you off with a warning." And with that, Kiba tightened his grip, causing a very loud cracking sound to emit from the attackers hand and a scream to be ripped from the boys throat. Kiba just dropped the bys hand and turned to where he last remembered Naruto to be standing. Naruto winced, cradling his own broken hand. He knew how painful that was and he was almost feeling pity for the kid.**

"**You… you broke my hand…"**

"**Correction… I dislocated it. You should probably go see a doctor." And with that, the group of kids sprinted away, one cradling a bum hand.**

"**That… THAT WAS SO COOL!" Naruto yelled out, practically ecstatic about how cool Kiba was, but still a little wary of his new friend.**

"**How did you know he was going to hit you?" Gaara asked, taking Kiba's hand off his shirt collar.**

"**Well, first what he said, then there was a rush of air hitting my face, and I could smell the sweat on his hand. It was kind of obvious." Kiba said off-handedly, stroking his pets head. His pet seemed to like the owners attention and nuzzled his hand. "Atta boy **

**Akamaru…" Kiba said affectionately.**

"**Isn't Akamaru amazing?" Kiba said, squatting down to come face to face with his seeing eye dog, who licked his face and barked.**

"**Why is his name 'Akamaru'? Isn't he white?" Naruto asked, reaching out to pet **

**Akamaru, who just was delighted by the prospect of even more attention being lather on him.**

"**Oh, I didn't know he was white. I named him Akamaru because his personality is fiery. My mom told me that fire was red." Kiba said, letting a small shocked expression grace his features.**

"**You didn't even know what color he was?" Gaara asked condescendingly.**

"**I don't even know what color is." Kiba said, letting a small, sad tone enter his voice. **

**Gaara immediately felt guilty. How stupid could he be? Of course a kid that was born blind wouldn't understand the concept of colors. Gaara wanted to smack himself. However, instead of moping about his insensitivity to others, he decided just to drop it.**

**After talking for a bit, the threesome broke up, Kiba going with Akamaru to their first class, Naruto going to gym, and Gaara running to Art class. Gaara liked art class. It was the only class he paid attention to, he sat in the front (apocalypse) and listen to his teacher. The words flowed from her mouth so seamlessly, she made art seem alive. Gaara really like her as a teacher. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't some sicko that had a crush on their teacher, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate her knowledge of art and the way she taught it. She was the only teacher that he said their name with an honorific.**

"**Hello Haku-sensei." Gaara said softly, shuffling into the class, sitting down in the front. He wasn't sure she would like him anymore after the sand incident, but he was proven wrong when she treated him like it was any other day.**

"**Why hello Gaara-kun. You're early as usual. Care to help me set up?" She said sweetly, smiling as she collected tins of charcoal from a storage closet. Gaara gave a soft nod, happy that this teacher needed his help. God he sounded like such a teacher's pet, but he really did like this teacher a lot. He helped her set up the room with excitement. They were doing charcoal drawings today. He couldn't wait to get started on his. After they had finished setting up the classroom for the inevitable mess it was going to be submitted to, they both sat down at their respective desks, waiting for the students to come filing in through the open door.**

"**I heard about your little gift Gaara-kun. How come you never told me about it. I'm sure you could have some artistic use for it." Haku-sensei said softly, looking briefly at Gaara's gourd of sand.**

"**S-sorry. I, I knew it wasn't normal, so I tried to keep it a secret." Gaara said, speaking to his desk. He was slightly ashamed of himself for being so timid around his teacher, but he really didn't want his only teacher that actually liked him to hate him.**

"**Do you mind showing me some of your prowess?" Haku-sensei said good naturedly, genuinely wanting to see what her student could do. Gaara looked up, surprised. Deciding that he couldn't manage to hurt his reputation any more, he unstrapped the gourd from his hips and set it on the desk with a soft thud. Uncorking the small reservoir of sand, he manipulated his fingers as a puppet master would and let the sand trickle out of the gourd fluidly win a skinny stream. He let a small smile melt onto his face as he manipulated the sand into a sort of ribbon dance, before molding it into that of a skinny, faceless dancer letting it dance across his desk. After a few moments he grew bored of just a dancer and turned it into a gymnast, manipulating the sand to do flips and cartwheels through the air, finally ending his little sand routine into the splits.**

"**You are very talented, Gaara-kun." Haku-sensei spoke from her desk, starling Gaara, reminding him that there was another person in the room. The sand shot up into the air from Gaara's twitch at being startled. Haku-sensei yelped and fell back, out of her chair.**

**Sorry!" Gaara said hurriedly, running around Haku-sensei's desk to help her, "it's a good thing you don't wear skirts, huh?" Gaara said good naturedly, helping his sensei up from the ground.**

"**What?" Haku-sensei said, stopping in the middle of dusting herself off.**

"**I… uh… said that it was a good thing that you never wear skirts…" Gaara said with a faint blush. Haku-sensei cocked her head to the side, looking at her student curiously.**

"…**Just what gender do you think I am of?" Haku-sensei said with an informal air.**

"**Uhh… a girl?" Gaara asked, unsure where this was going. But before he could figure out where this conversation was going, Haku-sensei started to laugh.**

"**A girl? A **_**girl ? **_**Gaara-kun, I'm a **_**boy**_**."**

"**No you're not." Gaara replied reflexively, before clamping a hand over his mouth.**

"**I'm not going to prove something like that to you, I might get fired. But yes Gaara-kun, I am a boy." Haku-sensei said, giggling madly at Gaara's flabbergasted face. However, before Gaara could say anything more on the matter, the bell rung and students started to file in. Gaara went and sat numbly in his seat. He couldn't **_**believe**_** that Haku was a boy. That just didn't add up in Gaara's book. However, Gaara didn't linger very much on this new piece of information. He needed to be alert, lest he be hazed by some bored classmate. He managed to make it to lunch before he was attacked seriously. He had made the mistake of staying in his history class a little longer than he should've. Empty hallways were not safe for him, because he knew the hallway wasn't really empty.**

**Out of nowhere, he was slammed into a set of lockers quite hard, causing them not only to rattle, but to dent slightly inwards too. Gaara let out a small gasp of pain.**

"**Hey freak." a low voice sounded in his ear. The person was very tall, and very close to Gaara, totally violating his bubble. Snickers erupted around Gaara. Ah. So his attacker was not alone. He would have just taken whatever they were going to say to him and left, but he found himself discovering a whole new level of rage when the person had licked his face and muttered '…sand whore…' into his ear. Gaara's eyes narrowed. He knew he looked like a whore, the kid didn't need to rub it in. It wasn't Gaara's fault that he had 'whore eyes', like his father used to say. Glowing green eyes. Bedroom eyes. Gaara hated them. It didn't help that he was painfully skinny either. He knew he looked like a common whore.**

"**Get the fuck off of me." Gaara growled, trying to push the unwanted visitor off of his frame.**

"**Aww, it looks like the Sand Whore doesn't want to play. Too fucking bad." The teen said, letting his friends draw in closer, raising a sense of urgency in Gaara. That's what Gaara's father had called him. Sand Whore. Gaara shivered. They were too close, and him, too tempting. He needed to get away. He didn't need to be used like when his father was around.**

"**Get away from me!" Gaara yelled, manipulating his sand to burst out of his small gourd and swirl around violently, "I swear to god if you don't let me go…" Gaara let his threat linger and he weaved his sand around the now nervous group.**

"**I said let go!" Gaara yelled, and in an explosion of sand and power, the group of four flew into the hallway. He slinked up to his attacker, sand whirling around him in anger, and grabbed the wide-eyed teen by the collar and spoke in a deadly calm voice.**

"**I may look like a whore, but that does not mean I am one." …**_**at least not now I am…**_** the thought lingered in his head after he had thrown the boy back onto the ground and stomped off, letting the sand slither back into his gourd. He was furious. Those bastards just had to say the one thing that he thought he had escaped from when his father had been thrown in jail for child abuse and molestation. Of course his father had never gone too far with Gaara, but he had lent his son out for money to his lecherous business partners. What a better way to make a business man agree to an unfavorable contract than by sweetening the deal with some carnal pleasures given in the form of a small boy?**

**Gaara still remembered his first time left alone with a business partner of his father. It was horrible. The man had to be at least 65, and Gaara clearly remembered he was eight at the time. He didn't even know what sex was at the time. All Gaara knew was that he was supposed to stay quiet and let the man do whatever he wanted. The man was sick. He liked blood just as much as sex, so Gaara got to experience both. Gaara felt sick just remembering. The touches. The pain. The knife slicing he virgin skin. He never wanted to be used ever again like that.**

**Gaara shook his head back and forth, trying to rid himself of the images flying through his head. That time when he was eight wasn't the only instance dealings like that had happened. By the time Gaara was 10, dealings like that had been a common matter. Who couldn't resist a boy in shorts and a small tee shirt, shyly peeking out from their fathers backside? Apparently the men that Gaara's father worked with.**

**Gaara was trained like a dog**_**. Keep quiet and do what they want, and maybe you'll get fed this week**_**. Was Gaara's internal mantra by then. By the age of 12, Gaara's internal mantra had changed, '**_**It'll be over soon… It'll be over soon… It'll be over soon…**_**'had been what plagued his mind. But it was never over soon. Sometimes the sessions had dragged out longer than four hours at a time. It was torture. However, after a few months into his 12th year of life, Gaara's father had made the special deal to a business man that he shouldn't have. The man immediately called the cops and Gaara, along with his siblings, were sent to go live with their distant cousin.**

**That, coupled with his sandy problem, landed Gaara firmly in the 'freak' category. Of course, nobody knew Gaara was used as a 9-year-old whore for business deals, it just resided in the back of Gaara's mind every time someone referred to him as a freak or a whore.**

**Shaking his head clear, Gaara stumbled into the Cafeteria, looking for his orange friend in the crowd of teens. Spotting the rambunctious teen animatedly talking to his new blind friend, Gaara ambled over and took a seat next to Kiba.**

"**Hey."**

"**What took you so long?" Kiba asked playfully, eating a fry from his plate.**

"**I got held up." Gaara said offhandedly, waving away the look of worry on both of his… erm… he supposed friends… faces. "It's nothing important." **_**except for the fact that I was reminded that I was once a whore**_**. Gaara let out a soft smile, turning to look at the rest of the lunch room.**

"**You're lying." Kiba said, feeding a fry to his doggie.**

"**What? How could you tell if I'm lying or not?" Gaara said defensively.**

"**Your heart rate went up, and I can smell the slight scent of sweat on you. That along with irregular breathing. The human body has reactions to lying Gaara, some of them are really obvious."**

"**Uhhh… new topic!" Gaara said hurriedly, pulling out a bin of Tupperware from his backpack that resided on the floor. "Who wants an oatmeal cookie!?" Gaara asked, popping off the top of his 'lunchbox'.**

"**Do they have raisins?" Naruto asked warily, peeking into the bin.**

"**Pfft. No. They have **_**chocolate chips**_** instead." Gaara said in a manner that would make even the idea of raisins in a cookie preposterous. Taking out three cookies, Gaara handed one to Kiba (who commented that they smelled very good) and one to Naruto, who ate his in under three point four seconds. Gaara ate his cookies slowly, he had at leat two more cases of them in his backpack. What can he say? He likes to bake. Gaara made twelve batches of oatmeal cookies last night from scratch because he couldn't fucking sleep (coughDeidaraandSasoriwerefuckingtooloudcough). And he planned to eat them all.**

"**Is that all you're going to eat?" Kiba asked, now eating a hamburger.**

"**Yea. What of it?" Gaara replied, defensive of his cookie-lunch.**

"**That can't be healthy." Kiba said offhandedly, taking another bite of his food.**

"**Whoever claimed it was healthy?" Gaara questioned back, eating yet another cookie.**

"**You're going to get sick…" Kiba taunted.**

"**Better sick than without the wonderfulness of oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies." Gaara said, enunciating each word with a chew of his cookie. "Mmm… cookie."**

"**Whatever. I'm not your mother."**

"**That would be weird if you were, because then you would be part of the living dead." **

**Gaara retorted, eating yet another cookie.**

"**What?" Naruto asked, jumping into the conversation once he sensed healthy eating wasn't the topic anymore. It not like he could have a say in that type of argument, all he ate was ramen.**

"**My mom's dead. It was a joke." Gaara said slowly to Naruto.**

"**You shouldn't joke about things like that, man." Kiba said, stopping in his process of demolishing his hamburger to 'look' up at Gaara, but not quite hitting the mark. Those empty eyes made Gaara feel slightly guilty about what he said. The murky eyes weren't looking at him, they were looking through him. It was unnerving.**

"**I can joke about whatever the fuck I want. It's not like she loved me or anything." Gaara spat back, eating two cookies at a time (which caused him nearly to choke, but that wasn't the issue at hand). He was slightly bitter about the situation, but still, it was the truth.**

"**Whatever man." Kiba said, turning back to his food.**

"**Hey…" Gaara attempted to change the subject yet again, "Did you know Haku-sensei is a boy?" Soda suddenly erupted from Naruto's nose and mouth as he started choking and gasping for air. After he could breathe properly, Naruto flailed his arms about before slamming them on the rickety school lunch table.**

"**What?!"**

"**It's true. Haku-sensei's a boy." Gaara confirmed.**

"**No she's not! Where the hell did you hear that from?" Naruto exclaimed, peering intensely at Gaara.**

"**Haku-sensei told me himself that he was a boy." Gaara said with a superior tone.**

"**No fucking way." Naruto said in awe.**

"**Hahaha, it's true. You can ask him if you want." Gaara said nonchalantly.**

"**I'm not asking our teacher about their gender!" Naruto sputtered back.**

"**It's a 'he' Naruto." Gaara said back, getting annoyed that his friend didn't believe him, ignoring the fact that he didn't half believe it himself. And that's about all they argued about for the rest of school. Yes, they argued over the gender of their art teacher. It was a long day, and Gaara didn't know how he could last reiterating that his teacher was a boy for the entire day, but that how the cookie crumbles, ne?**

**________________________________________________________________________**

**Arashi: Please read and review. ^^**


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